


The Only Choice

by Wallwalker



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Community: fic_promptly, F/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:49:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25796167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wallwalker/pseuds/Wallwalker
Summary: Barret finds out that Tifa has set off on a mission of her own.
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart/Barret Wallace
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10





	The Only Choice

Tifa wasn’t at the bar.

Barret frowned, looking up at the locked door - he had a key to the back and so did the rest of his team, but that wasn’t the point. The point was, Tifa only locked up when she wasn’t there. And since he knew she wasn’t at home - he’d stopped by, and the apartment was empty - and that it wasn’t the day for her to get supplies, he had no idea where she was.

He wasn’t worried as much about her safety - well, that was a lie. Of course he worried about her safety. But he also knew that she could take care of herself better than most people down there. He’d seen her fight and she was pretty deadly, when she had a mind to be.

It wasn’t that he worried about her loyalties, either. Barret knew Tifa was on their side. She believed in AVALANCHE, and she did what she could to help. If not for her, they wouldn’t have their own headquarters. They wouldn’t even be able to meet. But he knew that she didn’t like the idea of blowing up reactors, causing widespread death and destruction, even for a cause he knew she believed in. She wanted to somehow bring down Shinra the company without hurting any of the people in it. Which, he had to admit, would be nice - but they couldn’t let that keep them from acting now. This was the right choice, and he believed that wholeheartedly.

She’d been gone more often, lately. Maybe she just needed the time to think.

\---

Tifa had been gone more and more frequently, but never for long. A few hours, here and there, mostly outside the usual customer hours. Which was fine - she had a life outside of AVALANCHE and Barret didn’t want to pry.

Then he started to hear things.

“I think the chocobo ranchers might be opening a post near the bar,” he’d heard one woman say to her tired-looking husband, a while back. “That would be nice, wouldn’t it? We could visit our friends in Sector 4 more often.”

That had caught his attention, mostly because he knew that no such thing was happening. Wymer had a problem with some of the men who handled the chocobo wagons. He’d once told Barret that they’d start operating in his sector over his dead body, and as far as Barret knew, the man was still alive and kicking.

The man yawned. “You think so? I thought the Neighborhood Watch was keeping ‘em out.”

“Maybe they’re having a change of heart. Or maybe Tifa is going to try to talk him into it. She’s the one I saw meeting one of the ranchers. It was near the road to Sector 6....”

They were walking away now, and he couldn’t exactly turn around and ask them what was going on. They probably didn’t know either, beyond what they’d seen. But for some reason it made Barret’s blood run cold.

Tifa was at the bar that day. And Barret wasn’t the sort to let gossip bring him down without checking with the people they were gossipping about. He headed there almost immediately, to the delighted squeals of his little girl.

“Everything okay, Barret?” Tifa asked, after he and Marlene had spent some time eating. Marlene was off to help “dust,” which mostly involved running a tiny bundle of feathers over some of the furniture. Mostly the pinball machines - she liked the flashing lights. “I thought you’d be out working more today.”

“Yeah. I’m fine. I just heard something weird. I’ll head back out soon, but I wanted to ask you something.”

“Okay,” she said, her brow creasing in worry momentarily. “Ask away.”

No real way to go into it besides just asking. “Have you been talking to the ranchers about setting up a post here?”

“No, I haven’t,” she answered. “You know the Watch would never agree to it.”

He nodded. “All right. I heard some folks say you were meeting with them. Thought maybe you’d talked Wymer into it.” He smiled. “If anybody could, it’d be you.”

“I doubt that,” she says, smiling. “He’s the second most stubborn person I’ve ever met.”

“Second to who? Me, or Marlene?” He said with a laugh.

“Well, okay. Third most stubborn.” She smiled back at the joke, but he could see... something in her eyes. Like when Marlene was trying to keep a secret. “I guess someone mentioned they saw me talking to them near Sector 6? I was asking one of them if there was a way they could deliver some supplies from across Midgar. If they could get them as far as Sector 5 or 6, I could get them to the bar for a lot less than my usual deliveries would cost.”

He saw the look in her eyes, of course. He knew when someone was holding something back. HQ had done it all the time - part of the reason they’d finally left. “That makes sense,” he says. “If there’s anything else you need, you know you can come to me, right? I’m fine with helpin’ with some of the deliveries.”

“I know. You helped me out a lot, those few times. But I know how busy you are.” She relaxed a bit - she was telling the truth now. The full truth. “I want to help the people here, you know? I have to do everything I can, or I won’t forgive myself.”

“Tifa... I get that, seriously.” He puts his good hand on hers, squeezing it. “I just wondered what was going on. And wanted to let you know you can always call on me.”

“Thanks, Barret.” She gave him another smile, then turned to watch Marlene fiddling with the jukebox. “Marlene, be careful with that! It’s an antique!”

“I just pressed one button!” she called back.

“Marlene, now, we’ve talked about this,” Barret said gently, and pulled his hand away from Tifa’s so that he could go and talk to Marlene. She was still learning about some of these things, after all. Tifa just smiled, and let him handle things; he didn’t mind if she corrected his daughter, but she preferred to let him handle things when he was around, and that was fine by him. He needed the practice.

Not that he forgot their conversation, or the look in her eye that said she was keeping secrets. He didn’t want to pry too deeply into her past - he knew what it was like to have terrible things to live with.

\---

If anyone had asked Barret where he was going, he would’ve said he was on patrol. That he was making sure nobody was coming to Sector 7. He probably wouldn’t have told them that he was hoping to see Cloud pop back up again, the way he'd appeared on that train. But it was a moot point; the bar was locked up again, and Tifa was gone. Barret didn’t blame her - he’d known that the mission would be rough on her, but they hadn’t had a choice, not with Jessie laid up. He hadn't had a real choice besides asking the two to come with him, and now... now her oldest friend was missing. Barret knew how that felt way too well. 

Only thing that gave him much hope was that Cloud had said he could make his way back. He had to hope that Cloud was all right, that he'd come back when the heat died down and they could all get back to work together. He could only hope Tifa agreed with him - 

He rounded a corner, and froze, staring at the last thing he had expected to see during that patrol. It was Tifa, standing at the border between Sectors 6 and 7, waiting by one of the wagon posts, and he almost hadn't recognized her. She was wearing a short indigo-purple dress that tied around the back; it left very little to the imagination. High heels, bare legs, long hair falling around her shoulders. He’d almost ignored her, figuring she was minding her own business, maybe heading to whatever kind of work she could find. If she hadn't turned just enough for him to catch her profile... but then she did, and recognition hit him like a nail bat.

He shook off the shock enough to start moving towards her. "Tifa!" he hissed, hoping to keep his voice down enough to avoid any attention from passers-by.

She turned around. He could see she was nervous, the look in her big brown eyes. “Barret,” she said, her voice quiet. “You can’t be here. Chocobo Sam is on his way, and if he sees you -”

That was when it finally clicked. The rumors of gangsters in Sector 7 looking for someone, the purple dress, the chats with the ranchers. Half-believed stories of his ridiculous bridal auditions were finally confirmed in his mind. He nodded slowly. "So that's it. But... but I'm not scared of Shinra. Or that sick asshole Corneo, either.”

"I know. But his men are sniffing around - he _knows_ something and I'm going to find out what!" Tifa looked away, taking a deep breath. “This... this is my mission. I can’t let them hurt you. The wagon’s going to be here soon.”

For a moment, he thought about stopping her. He’d carried her out of the reactor, hadn’t he? But even then, if she’d wanted to break free, she would have. She’d been trusting that Cloud would be okay, as much as he was. Even in that dress, if he tried to have a fight with her, he knew damn well who would win. But... but he hung back a moment longer, unwilling to just let her go. “Why didn’t you tell me? We could’ve made a plan, I could’ve... we could’ve sent -”

She shook her head. “It’s no good, don’t you see? Corneo knows too much about you, about AVALANCHE. He’s getting his information from somewhere - probably from Shinra. He knows about you and the others. But if he thinks I’m just another pretty girl, he’ll let me get close. I can find out what he knows about their plans. We can stop them!”

His stomach churns around a cold knot of fear. He'd heard a lot of rumors. Almost all of them ended very, very badly for the poor girls, whether they were chosen or not. “Tifa. If anything happens to you, I don’t know what Marlene would do.” He swallows hard. “Hell, I don’t know what I would do.”

“I know. It’s okay, Barret. I can do this.”

“It’s dangerous! If they -”

He heard something, then. The sounds of a wagon in the distance. Tifa reached out towards him. “Barret. Do you trust me?”

"I... damn it, Tifa, you _know_ I do." He hung his head, defeated. "I trust you more than anybody."

“Then you’ve got to go. Now.” She put her hands on his arms. “Please. You’ve got to protect the others. And if Cloud - when Cloud comes back...”

“I know... yeah. All right.” He was giving in too easily. He wanted to believe that Tifa could fight the Don’s entire gang herself, he really did. But either way... they were coming for her, and she was right, it was too late now. “Promise me you’ll get outta there okay. Promise you'll come back to me.”

“You know I will.”

“Yeah, but... promise me.” He takes a breath around the lump in his throat. “Please.”

A pause. The wagon was getting closer. “Okay,” she finally says. “I promise. Now, you have to go. Please.”

He nodded and turned away, dashing off for the nearest cover and hoping that they hadn’t seen him, hoping he was close enough to hear the rest - and fortunately, he was. The wagon, slowing as it approached the post. A man talking to Tifa, and Tifa saying something back. Wood creaking, settling under her weight, no doubt. Then - then the wagon's wheels turning, rolling away. 

Barret’s heart was hammering nearly out of his chest; he was still fighting the urge to rush after her, to stop her. He felt cold, certain that they’d both made a mistake, that he’d never see her again. But... no, he had to stop. She’d promised, hadn't she? He had to believe that meant something. That... that she’d come back. She was on her own now, and that meant he had to trust her, because the alternative was much, much worse. The cold, numb feeling lasted the entire time it took to get back to Sector 7. He couldn’t get the look she gave him out of her head - fear, determination, pride, all those emotions mixed together. She knew what she was doing was dangerous. And she believed wholeheartedly that what she was doing was the right choice - the _only_ choice. He understood that too well.

He took a deep breath as he headed back to the bar. He couldn’t let the others know. There was too much to be done. He’d just have to trust she’d keep her promise.

**Author's Note:**

> A bit of thinking about how Tifa went to Don Corneo in the remake continuity. The game seems to imply that she ran off without telling anyone, and she had to have known about the possibility of it beforehand - how else would Chocobo Sam have known to recommend her? So I thought maybe she'd laid the groundwork for the plan before, then realized that they were hunting Barret and set it into motion to find out what Corneo knew.


End file.
